Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless communications and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for controlling interference between a cellular communication and a D2D communication.
Related Art
The device-to-device (D2D) communication that uses the same spectrum as the existing cellular communication has many advantages. In the aspect of a user equipment (UE), high throughput, low delay and saving power consumption and the like can be expected. In addition, if the cellular communication and the D2D communication are performed at the same time, the frequency reuse gain may be increased. In comparison with the gain that can be obtained by using uplink/downlink through a base station in the cellular communication, the gain obtainable by using a single link in the D2D communication is referred to as the ‘hop gain’. The D2D communication expands the coverage of the existing cellular network, and also may provide a new type of peer to peer (P2P).
However, in spite of the advantages above, the D2D communication that uses the same spectrum as the existing cellular communication has a few problems. In particular, in case that the D2D communication is performed in a macro cell based on 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE)-Advanced using the orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), considerable size of interference may occur between the macro cell and D2D communication. Such interference also causes unexpected damage to a macro UE such as communication disconnection.
Accordingly, a method and an apparatus for controlling the interference between the cellular communication and the device-to-device (D2D) communication are needed.